Delay measurement in packet networks is a highly desirable feature for network operators. Synchronization of two network element clocks allows the system to perform one-way packet delay measurements, jitter measurements, and throughput measurements. The accuracy of this synchronization directly affects the accuracy of the measurements. These measurements need microsecond accuracy, requiring the network element clocks to also have microsecond synchronization accuracy. Currently, the only way to guarantee microsecond accuracy is to use Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) synchronization at both network elements. The GPS solution requires each network element to have a GPS receiver available and to support GPS or external synchronization input. This results in added cost and complexity to the network and the network elements. The Network Timing Protocol (NTP) is also available to synchronize network element clocks; however this method only provides millisecond accuracy which is unsuitable for packet measurements. The NTP protocol is limited by the unknown amount of latency between the network elements. This latency can be affected by the network element CPU, packet processor, physical interface, transport interface, and the fiber path between the network elements. Of these, the fiber path latency is the greatest contributing factor to the unknown latency. The other latency contributing factors can be mitigated by implementation, or accurately estimated and accounted for in the synchronization process.